A great start to the New Year here in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. My friends Peter and Gillian Roy threw a New Years Eve party just down the river from my house, so I dropped my boat in the water and motored on over to their house. Just after midnight I launched my boat out into the Waccamaw River to head home, under a canapé of stars. It was absolutely beautiful! There was a very slight breeze so the stars were reflected in the black water, which made it look like I had stars above and below. The night was warm, so I sat out on my dock for awhile and took in the beauty Mother Nature was providing for me under this beautiful South Carolina sky.

On January 2nd, I joined Salters and Woofie and their children Leldon, Marguarite and Emory on a ski trip to Winter Park, Colorado - a small ski resort just about an hour and a half out of Denver. The mountain was fun. The first day out the snow was mostly skied off, so we did our ski dance and it worked! We got lots of snow. New snow everyday added a bit of a challenge seeing where we were going. The kids are becoming good skiers and boarder, Leldon boards. They took a day of lessons and improved dramatically. It will not be long before they want to head off on their own because we will be embarrassing them. The village there is very small with limited accommodations, restaurants etc. - but it has all you need. A good time had by all. We made all of our flights which I think is a first traveling with the McClary's. The airports were very busy, but no delays and we even had good service at an airport restaurant - life is good. Then back to work trying to plan for the many exciting things 2008 has in store. It looks like a busy year ahead.

Kristen and I flew to Las Vegas to a jewelry show the last weekend of January and found some great new suppliers. The new designs will come to our store in late April or early May, and we look forward to sharing them with you.

It looks like a lot of travel lined up for March. On February 29th, Thomas, Kristen and I head to the Cobb Galleria just outside Atlanta for the Atlanta jewelry show. This is always a busy time; most of the day is filled with seminars. It’s always fun, we see dealers we have been doing business with for decades. The jewelry industry is so small; it’s like a big family, so it’s like a reunion. We'll let you know all the details.

I fly from Atlanta to NYC to catch a flight to Hong Kong. I really don’t like this flight - it's some where between 16 and 18 hours long and unfortunately I fly economy, so my knees are pressed against the seat in front of me for longer than I can stand. Hong Kong is such a busy place it makes NYC seem like a slow-paced city. The jewelry show is incredible. There are more than 800,000 people attending the show, plus thousands of exhibitors, restaurants and security who host a crowd of humanity - and of course me. You can find anything the mind can imagine as far as jewelry goes and probably other bits and pieces. It is: lots of fun, thrilling, exhausting, totally overwhelming and so educational. I really enjoy the stimulation and look forward to getting in my bed at the end of each day. I typically leave the hotel around 8am and get back around midnight. I lost 7lbs. on my last visit there. I'll let you know how this trip goes. Look forward to seeing you at our store in Pawley’s Island!!!!  Until next time, John Henry